Ground breaking assemblies and rock processing apparatus have been previously proposed in the prior art to a great extent. Many of the apparatus have been either self propelled, small scale or large scale, or used in combination with some form of a suitable vehicle.
Rafferty et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,456 issued Sep. 22, 1959, discloses a breaker bar and pulverizer assembly for road rebuilding. The arrangement includes a breaker bar which is configured and disposed to dig into or otherwise excavate the surface of a road. Material that is introduced by the breaker bar is transmitted to a further surface where the material is contacted by a series of pulverizer blades. The blades are essentially elongate articles which break material against an anvil surface associated with the breaker bar. Although the arrangement appear to be useful, it is clear that there are a significant number of moving parts and further, that the arrangement is primarily directed to an excavating arrangement.
In a similar manner, Bellar et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,692, issued Nov. 9, 1993, discloses a ground excavating arrangement. In the arrangement provided in this reference, the rock material is effectively projected against fracture boards in order to break the same. There is no real pulverization per se and no coaction of a hammer element with an anvil member to pulverize to the point of particulation material. There is a certain degree of co-action of the hammer elements with an anvil, but this action does not appear to be directed to pulverization, but rather simple fracture. Furthermore, the arrangement is designed to excavate a surface as opposed to simply processing existing partially fractured rock material. This arrangement is also limited by the fact that it requires outboard power to drive the arrangement and provides no protection for the rotor against damage.
A further reference in this art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,009, issued to Lindbeck, issued Dec. 24, 1985. The reference provides pulverizing apparatus for pulverizing aggregate masses of frangible materials on and below earth surfaces. In the arrangement, a collection bar is provided which digs into the ground surface as the apparatus is dragged therealong. This collection plate coacts with hammer elements to at least partially break the rock material into smaller portions. There does not appear to be pulverization of rock material. Further, the rotor would appear to be fully exposed to potential damage by the rock material contacting the hammer elements.
Other prior art generally related to this subject matter includes the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,417,627, 4,826,352, 5,025,995, 3,850,375, 4,006,936, 4,732,506, 4,704,045, 4,573,826, 4,417,627, 4,637,753, 3,602,444, 4,848,677, 4,785,560, 4,355,670, 2,313,471, 4,704,045, 4,871,213, 4,878,713, 5,854,147 and 3,732,023.
It would be desirable to have a rock processing apparatus which could effectively process more rock material than prior art arrangements and further, which include protective elements for the rotor as well as hammer elements that, even under wear conditions, could still function adequately over long periods of time.
The present invention is directed to satisfying the limitations that have been experienced with prior art arrangements.